Placer-mining machine.



C. R. DENNISON.

PLACER MINING MACHINE.

APPLIGATION FILED FEB. 21, 1912. Patented June 10,1913.

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G. R. DENNISON. PLACER MINING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED I'BB. 21, 1912.

Patented June 10,1913.

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COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH (20., WASHINGTON, D, c

Patented June 10, 1913' 5 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

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C. R. DENNISON.

PLACER MINING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 21, 1912. 1,064,297, Patented June 10, 1913.

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C. R. DENNISON.

PLACER MINING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 21', 1912.

1,064,297. Patented June 10, 1913.

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CHARLES R. DENNISON, OF YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO.

PLACER-MINING MACHINE.

T 0 all whom 2'75 may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES R. DENNI- SON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Youngstown, in the county of Mahoning and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Placer- Mining Machines, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates in general to placer mining, and more particularly to an improved placer mining machine which embodies certain novel features of construction whereby the fine particles of gold may be economically and effectively separated from placer deposits by a simple washing process.

The object of the invention is to provide a comparatively simple machine of this character which is continuous in its operation, which provides novel and effective means for washing the material and separating the particles of gold therefrom as the material passes through the machine, and in which 'the water is used repeatedly and caused to circulate continuously through the various riffies, thereby preventing the loss of fine particles of gold such as are ordinarily car ried away by the water where the water is used but once and is then carried away from the machine to the waste.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in certain novel combinations and arrangements of the parts as will more fully appear as the description proceeds, the novel features thereof being pointed out in the appended claims.

For a full understanding of the invention, reference is to be had to the following description and accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a placer mining machine constructed in accordance with the invention. Fig. 2 is a detail plan view of the main or body portion of the placer mining machine with the various ac- Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view through the main or body portion of the placer mining machine with the various accessories removed as on the line 33 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail sectional view through a portion of one of the riflling pans arranged at the upper end of the rifiling sluiceway and formed with upright rifiies arranged at substantially right angles to the bottom of the pan. Fig. 5 is a similar view through a Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 21, 1912.

Patented June 10, 1913.

Serial No. 679,151.

portion of a riiiling pan arranged at an intermediate pointin the length of the riffling sluiceway and formed with inclined riffles which offer a slightly less resistance to the passage of the water than the riflies shown in Fig. 4:. Fig. 6 is also a similar sectional view through a portion of a riffling pan arranged at the lower end of the inclined rifiiing sluiceway and formed with curved ritlles which offer even less resistance to the passage of the water than the inclined riffles shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a transverse vertical sectional view through the body portion of the machine at an intermediate point in the length thereof, as in the line 77 of Fig. 3. Fig. 8 is a transverse vertical sectional view through the body portion of the machine, the said sectional view extending through the grizzly which is arranged to receive the discharge from the lower end of the rifliing sluiceway, as on the line 88 of Fig. 3. Fig. 9 is an elevation showing an end frame and the mechanism mounted thereon for controlling the inclination of the tailings conveyer.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the same reference characters.

Referring to the drawings which serve to illustrate one embodiment of the invention, the numeral 1 designates the supporting framework in its entirety. The raw material is first thrown upon an inclined screen 2 at one end of the machine, the material passing through this screen 2 falling upon an inclined surface 3 and being deflected thereby into a bin 4. From this bin, the raw material is elevated by means of a suitable conveyer 5 and discharged into a rotary separating screen 6. The coarser materials pass through the screen 6 and are discharged therefrom into a hopper 7 from which they are deposited upon a tailings conveyer 8 and carried to the waste pile or dump. The finer particles carrying the gold sift through the screen 6 and either drop directly into a feed hopper 9 under the upper end thereof, or drop upon an endless return conveyer belt 10 which discharges them into the hopper 9.

Any suitable means may be provided for driving the various conveyer belts and the rotary separating screen. In the present instance, however, power is shown as trans- .mitted from some Suitable source such as the pulley 11, by means of a belt 12 to a pulley 13 upon a drive shaft 14:. This drive shaft is provided with numerous pulleys engaging various endless belts for transmitting power to di'iferent parts of the machine. The endless belt 15 is utilized for transmitting; power from the shaft 1st to the con veyer 5, the belt 16 for transmitting power from the said shaft 14 to the conveyor belt 10, the belt 17 for transmitting power from the said drive shaft let to the tailings conveyer 8, and the belt 17 for transmitting power from the drive shaft to a shaft 18 which is connected by the gearing 19 to the rotary sifting screei'i 6 and serves to revolve the same.

From the feed hopper 9, the material is deposited upon the upper end of a riiiled sluiceway 20 through which there is a continuous stream of water, the lower end of the riftled sluiceway discharging upon a laterally inclined grizzly 21. The riflles 22 at the upper end of the sluiceway 20 are upright and arranged at right angles to the base of the sluiceway so as to oli'er a maximum resistance to the passage of the water thereover. At an intermediate point in the length of the sluiceway the rifiles 23 are inclined in the direction of the flow of water so as to offer a slightly less resistance to the passage thereof, while at the lower end of the ritlled sluiceway the rililes 2% have the upper ends thereof curved forwardly in the direction of the flow of the water so as to offer a still less resistance thereto than the inclined ritlies 23. The various sets of riflles 22, 23 and 2% all extend transversely across the bottom of the sluicewav 20 in a direction at right angles to the flow of the water through the sluiceway, and these various ritilcs may be formed in pans 25 which are removably placed in the sluiceway. These riifles are all exposed so that access can readily be had thereto at any time and the various pans 25 can be readily removed should such become desirable.

From the sluiceway 20 the material is discharged upon the grizzly 21 which is inclined laterally toward one side of the device, the said grizzly being shown as formed of a series of spaced longitudinal bars 21 arranged at each side thereof and connected by a series of spaced transverse bars 21. From the lower end of the grizzly, the material is discharged upon a chute 26 which leads it into a failings bin 27. The finer gold bearing particles which pass through the grizzly 21 drop upon a reversely inclined laterally disposed sluice or chute 28 which carries it to a series of circulating passageways 29 constitute a longitudinally arranged feeding chute atone side of the device. In order to facilitate the action of the grizzly and increase the ciiiciency thereof, the same is preferably suspended by means of hangers 30 so as to have a longitudinal reciprocating movement. A link 31 is connected to one end of the grizzly 20 and may be operated in any suitable manner to impart a continuous back and forth movement to the grizzly. The longitudinal passageways 29 which, in the present instance, are three in number are separated by means of partitions or walls 32, the forward ends of the said partitions havinp; an adjustable connection 33 with curved walls 3 1 which lead to the lower end of the transverse sluiceway 28. By suitably adjusting the connections 33 between the partitions 32 and the curved walls 3-1, the said curved walls can be flexed or manipulated so as to make the mouths of the passageways 29 larger or smaller and thereby control the flow through the passageways.

The various longitudinal passageways 29 discharge successively through the openings upon Pierce or equivalent rililes 36 which are arranged under the riilled sluiccway 20 and are inclined transversely of the device. Suitable gates 3'? may be provided for controlling the discharge through the openings From the Pierce rifiles 36 which con stitute the final gold extracting medium to which the material is subjected, the waste material overflows into a longitudinally inclining waste chute 38 which is located at the opposite side of the machine and serves to carry the waste back into the tailings bin 2'7. The water passes into the compartment 39 at the bottom of the machine and circulates through the said compartment to that portion of the reservoir designated by the number 40 at the lower end of av circulating flume which is shown as vertically disposed. A. series of longitudinal and transverse screens ll are arranged in the compartment 89 and at other points for separating any coarse particles from the water and preventing the said particles from reaching the water reservoir 10. A suitable water elevator 12 is mounted within the circulating flume 43 and serves to raise the water and discharge it upon the upper end of the rililed sluiceway 20. A vertically adjustable shield is is arranged at the upper end of this sluiceway and serves to direct the water downwardly upon the sluiceway in the proper manner after it has been discharged from the elevator 12. The water elevator 4-2 may be driven in any suitable manner, although it is shown as receiving power from the drive shaft 1 1 through the medium of suit able pulleys and a belt 46, and the dogs 44b and racks 44 may be used as the means of adjustment for the shield 14.

The tailings or waste material which are collected in the tailings bin 27 are raised by means of a tailings elevator 45 and deposited in the hopper 7 from which they are dis charged upon the tailings conveyer S and carried to the damp or waste pile. The tailings conveyer 8 is pivotally mounted at its inner end and has the outer end thereof connected to cables 47 which pass around pulleys 48 at the upper end of a frame 4:9, the ends of the cables being secured to drums 50 upon a horizontal shaft- 51 at the lower end of the frame 49. This shaft 51 is provided with the gear wheels 52 which mesh with pinions 53, the said pinions being adapted to be turned in any suitable manner for taking in and letting out the cables 47 to adjust the elevation of the swinging end of the frame carrying the tailings conveyer 8. The riftled sluiceway 20 is also mounted so that the inclination thereof can be adjusted. A pawl and ratchet mechanism 5% and flexible hangers 5A are provided at the lower end of this rifl'led sluiceway and provide a means for raising and lowering the same.

In the operation of the machine, the coarser and useless portions of the raw material are carried directly to the tailings conveyer and waste dump without being washed. The finer and gold bearing particles are first passed through the riflied sluiceway 20, then acted upon by the grizzly 21 and finally passed through the Pierce rifHes 36. These several operations serve in an effective manner to remove all of the gold particles and retain them in such a manner that they can be readily recovered. The water is also used repeatedly and circulated continuously through the machine, thereby avoiding the loss of the fine particles which are ordinarily carried away by the water where the water is used but once and fresh water is caused to circulate continuously through the machine.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A placer mining machine including an inclined sluiceway provided with transversely disposed upright riflies which are arranged in a plurality of sets, the successive sets of transverse ritlles from the top to the bottom of the sluiceway being vertical, in clined, and then curved, so as to present a progressively decreasing resistance to the passage of water through the sluiceway.

2-. A placer mining machine including a ritlied sluiceway formed with transversely disposed riiiles, all of the rill'les being of substantially the same height and being vertical at the upper end of the sluiceway, inclined at the intermediate portion thereof, and curved at the lower end of the sluiceway so as to offer a gradually decreasing resistance to the passage of the water through the sluiceway.

3. A placer mining machine including a sluiceway, and a series of riii'le pans mounted within the sluiceway, the riiiles of the various pans being all substantially of the same height and vertical at the upper end plurality of secondary riiiles for final separatio-n of the gold, and a series of circulating conduits respectively leading from beneath the separate screen sections of the grizzly to the respective secondary rililes.

5. A concentrating unit for placer mining machines comprising a main riflied sluiceway, a transversely inclined grizzly arranged at the discharging end of the main sluiceway and having a plurality of screen sections, a separate inclined sluice arranged beneath the screen sections of the grizzly, a plurality of secondary riilies for final separation of the gold, a series of circulating conduits respectively leading from beneath the separate screen sections of the grizzly to the respective secondary rifl'les, and means for regulating the flow through the said conduits.

6. A concentrating unit for placer mining machines comprising a water tank, a longitudinally inclined rifiled sluiceway surmounting said tank, a transversely arranged grizzly located at the discharging end of said sluiceway, a separate inclined sluice beneath the screen of the grizzly, a plurality of laterally inclined'secondary riffies located within the tank, a series of circulating conduits leading from the separate inclined sluice to the respective secondary riffles, and means for respectively collecting and discharging the tailings from the grizzly and from the secondary rifiles.

7. A concentrating unit for placer mining machines comprising a water tank, a longitudinally inclined riffled sluiceway mounted in the tank, a grizzly located at one end of the tank beneath the discharging end of said sluiceway, a common tailings bin, means for discharging the tailings from the grizzly to the said bin, a separate inclined sluice beneath the grizzly, a plurality of secondary riflles, conduits connecting the secondary rifiies with the sluice beneath the grizzly, and a chute connect-ing all of the secondary rifiles with the tailings bin.

8. A placer mining machine including a supporting frame, a longitudinally inclined sluiceway mounted thereon for an initial separation of the gold, an inclined grizzly receiving the discharge from the said sluiceway, a tailings bin, means for discharging the tailings from the grizzly into the tailings bin, an inclined sluiceway arranged under the grizzly, a series of laterally inclined secondary ritl'les mounted upon the frame, a longitudinally arranged feeding chute provided With a series oi circulating passageways leading from the inclined sluiceway under the grizzly to the various secondary riilles, and a longitudinal chnteextending along the opposite side of the machine and leading from the various secondary rill'les to the tailings bin.

9. A placer mining machine including a supporting frame, a longitudinally inclined sluiceway thereon for an initial separation of the gold, a laterally inclined grizzly receiving the discharge from the said sluice- Way, a tailings bin, means for discharging the tailings from the grizzly into the tailings bin, an inclined sluiceway arranged under the grlzzly, a series of laterally 1nclined secondary riftles mounted upon the frame under the longitudinally inclined sluiceway, a longitudinally arranged feeding chute having a. passageway and leading from the inclined sluiceway under the grizzly to the various secondary ri'llles, and a' cHARLnsn. DENNISON.

Witnesses AGNES A. JonNs'roN, ALFRED LIEBMAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of P ate-fits Washington, D. G. 

